Total pages in book: 60
Estimated words: 54204 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 271(@200wpm)___ 217(@250wpm)___ 181(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54204 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 271(@200wpm)___ 217(@250wpm)___ 181(@300wpm)
“Family, this is my treasure. My Queen. Your new Queen. You will regard her as such. You will protect her as you do me. She is always the priority. Even over me. You betray her. Then you betray me, and I will slaughter you. Everyone understand?”
“Boss.” they all sound off, bowing their heads in deference.
“Good. Now, stand when I introduce you, so she knows who you are.” he begins calling off the men and telling me their specialty. “Scar. He leaves a reminder for our enemies. Something on their bodies they will never forget. Very effective. Next, you know Click. He is my arsonist. When I want something turned to ash, he is my man. This is hydro. He is my water man. Drowning, waterboarding. You name it. If you can do it with water, Hydro has already done it. This is slick, my not so...ethical attorney. This is Acid. I think his name speaks for itself. Meet Volt. He is obsessed with electricity. I should also mention he and Hydro like to work together sometimes. Torch, my fire guy. Trigger. Sniper. Last but not least, my hardheaded cousin, Tim. Everyone, say hello to Jewel.”
“Queen. Madame. Boss.” All the names are shot at me from various people. I nod in acknowledgement. Not sure what else to say. I do take note of the few people in the room that he didn’t introduce me to.
“Alright baby, Kiss me and go sit by Lola.” I do as I’m told and walk toward the couch.
“Hey hunny. Welcome to your new life,” she says. Yea. No shit.
11
Dario
Watching her sit next to Lola, everything around me is cascaded in steel. Before her, I had no regard for myself. I would walk through a wall of bullets and not blink. Like I gave a shit. Now, my love for her is pure steel. My need to protect her, love her, own her is like armor. It makes me want things I never wanted and to be things I never cared about. Like indestructible. But first, I need to get to the bottom of this breach. Looking toward my Queen, once again, I nod at Lola beside her and watch as she pulls the headphones I bought Jewel from her purse and hand them to her with her Nook. I trust her, implicitly. However, the more she knows, the bigger a liability she is because she knows too much. It makes her a more desirable target. I won’t put her in that situation if I don’t have too.
My sweet girl looks at me before seeing my nod and putting them on. When Lola nods to me, letting me know she is listening to a book, I begin the meeting. “So, who the fuck betrayed us?” right to the point.
“We have no idea, Boss.” I slam my hand on the table to the left of the chair.
“That is UNACCEPTABLE!! Someone in this room, broke their oath and ripped the code they took to shreds when they decided to push against me. NOW I WANT TO KNOW WHO THE FUCK IT IS!!'' This is why she needed her headphones. I can’t control the rage and seething flame inside of me at the audacity. My crew knows loyalty is the number one code of my organization. You betray me, you die, right where you sit.
“Boss.” Click calls my attention to my canary who is looking at me with her face strained as if she is trying to figure out what is wrong. From across the room I can feel her concern and my body begins to relax and go soft. Shit. This girl is going to get me killed. Soft is a foul aroma in this world. Hardening back up, I turn my attention from her and continue. I remove my Rutger from my back pocket and lay it on the table. My men begin to get itchy knowing anytime my gun makes an appearance, shit is about to go FUBAR.
“Dar.” Tim says my name in his ‘cool it cuz’ tone. My eyebrow raises and he knows there is no cooling me. He coughs and inclines his head toward Jewel again, reminding me she is in the room. Fuck. This is so damn hard. This is why I have been resistant to relationships. I knew that when I finally found someone who was meant to be mine, I would take that shit seriously and above and beyond. I also knew, it would be something that would put my Empire in danger and here I am, at a crossroads. If it weren't for her being here, I would be playing Russian roulette with the people I suspect at this moment. But, because she is in here, I have to temper my reactions. See the conundrum.
“Scar. Hydro. Do you two have any ideas?” Hydro nods his head but gives me the signal letting me know not now. That bares down on me, but he is one of my trusted, so I know he has his reasons. I notice that Scar hasn’t answered and that resonates louder than the talking in the room. “I will tell you what, I want reports, ideas and resolutions on my desk in three days. In the meantime, those of you who are new, you will be reassigned. Get out my fucking face.'' Most of them get up and scatter except for the trusted. They remain and we discuss. Still Scar is quiet and that doesn’t go unnoticed. By anyone.